Carrom World Cup gold medallist L. Keerthana: ‘I want to help other players’

L Keerthana is at the peak of her carrom career. She won three golds in the 7th Carrom World Cup held earlier this month in the Maldives and was awarded ₹1 crore by Chief Minister M K Stalin a few days ago. Yet, when asked about her future plans for the sport, she says: “I want to help other players from my academy taste the same success,” adding: “I shouldn’t be the only one winning medals. There are so many players like me in my neighbourhood of New Washermanpet who love carrom and are good at it. They should win too.”

L Keerthana at the Carrom and Coaching Academy in New Washermanpet in Chennai
| Photo Credit:
JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

The 22-year-old wants to now focus on training players at the Carrom and Coaching Academy (CCA) where she plays. “Boys and girls there are so happy for me; they’ve been cheering for me from the time I entered the World Cup. I hope their parents get to see them win in the near future.”

Ever since she returned to Chennai from her historic win at the Maldives — a gold each in women’s singles, doubles, and team events — she has been on the move, meeting local politicians, celebrities, and senior carrom players. There has been a massive outpouring of love for her.  Away from the glare of cameras and phone calls in the quiet of her home in Washermanpet, Keerthana is thinking of her late father R Loganathan.  

Carrom player L Keerthana with her World Cup medals and trophies
| Photo Credit:
JOTHI RAMALINGAM B

“He was the one who initiated me into carrom,” she recalls. Loganathan was a loadman. He loved the sport and developed an interest for it by observing the many carrom players of North Chennai. “He held my hand to show me how to strike when I was three years old,” she says.

After his death, when she was 15, Keerthana stopped playing. She also had to discontinue school to support her family financially. Her mother L Indirani was a house-help back then. “I started working in a steel workshop nearby,” she says, adding that there were four mouths to feed at home. “My friends would go to play, and I would head to the workshop,” she says. “I felt bad for how my life had turned out, but I didn’t have a choice.”

Help arrived in the form of M Nithyarajan from Royapuram. As the father of two children who were also into carrom, he noticed Keerthana’s talent during her many games with his son. He encouraged her to continue playing, offering financial support and also setting up CCA for young players such as herself. Keerthana played day and night. She loved the sport much like her father and had a natural flair for it. She credits her coach and Arujuna-awardee Maria Irudayam from Vepery who is the secretary of Tamil Nadu Carrom Association and R Amudhavanan, secretary of the Chennai District Carrom Association, for advice throughout her journey.

It was Keerthana’s two golds in the 52nd Senior National Carrom Championship in New Delhi in March this year that secured her a spot in the World Cup. “But to travel to the Maldives for the match, I needed ₹1 lakh,” she says. J Meghanatha Reddy from the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu helped organise a meeting with the Chief Minister for funding. “I was able to travel to the Maldives thanks to his intervention,” she says.

Keerthana trained from 4am every day for the World Cup in the months leading up to the match. “I would play at the academy till 8pm with short breaks for lunch and breakfast,” she says. “Everyone at home made space for me. No one would call me on my phone once I left for the academy. They knew how important carrom was for me. How I valued my training.”

Keerthana hopes to spend the prize money on her house. “It often gets flooded with water from a canal nearby,” she says. It will be among the first things she will do as World Cup champion.